“I didn’t see it coming, but maybe I should have,” said Salamisha Tillet for the New York Times. “That refrain has been popping into my head repeatedly since learning that neither Viola Davis (“The Woman King”) nor Danielle Deadwyler (“Till”) was nominated for the best actress Oscar and that Andrea Riseborough and Ana de Armas had emerged as this year’s spoilers.”

“It came to mind again Sunday night when the Grammys awarded Harry Styles’ ‘Harry’s House’ album of the year, not Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance.’ Although she made history that night as the most Grammy-winning artist of all time, this was Beyoncé’s fourth shutout from the industry’s most coveted category and another stark reminder that the last Black woman to take home that award was Lauryn Hill — 24 years ago. This time the message was loud and clear: Beyoncé, one of the most prolific and transformative artists of the 21st century, can win only in niche categories. Her music — a continually evolving and genre-defying sound — still can’t be seen as the standard-bearer for the universal.”

“The music and movie industries differ in many ways, but their prizes are similarly determined by the predominantly older white male members of the movie and recording academies. Although both organizations have made concerted efforts in recent years to diversify their voting bodies in terms of age, race and gender, Black women artists, despite their ingenuity, influence and, in Beyoncé’s case, unparalleled innovation, continue to be denied their highest honors.”

“This trend is no indication of the quality of their work but rather a reflection of something else: the false myth of meritocracy upon which these institutions, their ceremonies and their gatekeepers thrive.”

It’s been over 20 years since Halle Berry won the best actress Oscar for her ‘Monster’s Ball’ performance as a Black mother who grieves the loss of her son through alcohol and sex. The fact that she remains the only Black woman to have won this award is ridiculous. ‘I do feel completely heartbroken that there’s no other woman standing next to me in 20 years,’ Berry reflected in the run-up to the Oscars last year. ‘I thought, like everybody else, that night meant a lot of things would change.'”

“The difference between then and now is that there are far more Black women directors and complex Black women characters on the big screen than ever before. Maybe, next year, the academy members will get behind one of those actors. Then again, maybe I should know better.”

Read the full article here.

“Ahead of the 2022–2023 school year, the College Board rolled out a pilot version of its new Advanced Placement (AP) African American Studies course. The class had been in the works for over a decade, and this pilot version is currently offered to students at only 60 high schools across the country,” said Elaine Velie for Hyperallergic. “Last week, the College Board announced an updated official curriculum framework in advance of the course’s expansion into hundreds more schools that some critics say is missing a host of important artists, writers, and concepts.”

Kelli Morgan, the director of curatorial studies at Tufts University, whose work focuses on anti-Blackness and anti-racism in the museum field, pointed to a handful of successful living Black artists whose work is not — and she says should be — included in the framework: Firelei Báez, Titus Kaphar, Harmonia Rosales, Alison Saar, and Renée Green among them. (Morgan is a recipient of Hyperallergic’s 2022–23 Emily Hall Tremaine Fellowship for Curators.)

Morgan, however, told Hyperallergic she was not surprised at the College Board’s amendments.

“I feel like we’re in this moment where White, capitalist, patriarchal supremacy is on its last legs — it kind of sees its own demise,” Morgan said. “So anything or anybody — Black scholars, Black authors, Black artists — who are producing work that not only demonstrates the dysfunctionality of White supremacist patriarchal capitalism but offers other options … There’s no way that’s gonna be handed to Black teenagers in high school.”

Morgan also spoke to the histories of African American Studies and Art Histories, stating that part of the reason she entered her line of work (which lies at the intersection of the two fields) is that Art History was behind the curve when it came to examining Black and African diaspora work, and African American Studies lagged behind in examining visual art at all.

“Music’s there, history and politics are there, but in terms of visual art, it was really small,” Morgan said.

“One thing I love about art is how wonderful it can be to have a mind that literally is trying to create something that doesn’t exist,” Morgan said. “We have to be able to see the possibility of beginning to be able to do what we want to do – being able to create the things we love or that we think of or that we conceptualize, within a system that is designed literally for us to die.”

“Seeing Black artists, especially these days at the level that is being done, is vital,” Morgan continued. “It’s beyond critical. It’s so vital to put that there.”

Read the full article here.

From Next City: “The global #LandBack movement, with its powerful demand to go beyond claims of “decolonization” and “reconciliation” by returning land to the stewardship Indigenous people, may seem like a fantasy. But U.S. cities are beginning to act upon their values – and indeed, their promises of climate action – by working to return land to the Indigenous communities to whom it rightfully belongs.”

“In 2004 and 2009, the city of Eureka, California, returned hundreds of acres on Tuluwat Island to the Wiyot Tribe in two land transfers. And last fall, the city of Oakland, California, announced a plan to grant an easement over five acres to local Indigenous organizations: the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, the East Bay Ohlone tribe and the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation.”

“In this session, we’ll hear from organizers with the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust about their work in Oakland, their model of land rematriation and their plans for the future. You’ll learn about what the urban #LandBack movement looks like today, and how other cities and communities can engage in land rematriation.”

“This session is part of Next City’s Solutions of the Year, a multi-day virtual convening of seven sessions that will frame the conversation for 2023. Purchase a single ticket now to all of the events for just $50, or pay what you wish by registering for each event individually. Everyone who donates will receive a copy of our annual Solutions of the Year special issue magazine.”

Watch the webinar here.

From Springboard for the Arts: This innovative pilot and narrative change strategy was designed in partnership with the City of St. Paul’s People’s Prosperity Pilot guaranteed income program. The City of St. Paul is a leader in the national Mayors for Guaranteed Income network, which works to incorporate learning and research from local pilots into state and federal policy recommendations.

Springboard undertook this work to demonstrate that artists should be recipients of economic system change and that they are powerful allies in movements for economic justice.

There is little to no safety net for most individual artists. This creates a pressing emergency of equity in economic opportunity and
representation in our field, especially for artists who are Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color, artists in rural places and underinvested urban neighborhoods, and artists identifying as LGBTQ+ or from the disability community. In 2022, the National Endowment for the Arts reported that the overall unemployment rate for artists was still twice what it was pre-pandemic.

Springboard’s guaranteed income pilot is the result of our work to transition from providing emergency relief for artists to laying the groundwork for larger systems change. This report provides a summary of the impact we are seeing and the steps we are taking to extend the impact of this work.

The goals of Springboard’s GI original pilot were:

Provide 25 artists and creative workers located in the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods of St. Paul, MN with $500 monthly payments for 18 months.

Support a cohort of artists to lead narrative change projects to build understanding about the need for economic justice in our community.

Develop research and inform policy by specifically demonstrating the impact that guaranteed income has on artist communities and the ways in which artists can contribute their skills to movements around economic justice.

Read the full report here.

From Nonprofit Quarterly: The cultural sector is seeking alternatives to business-as-usual. This article is the second in the series, “Remember the Future: Culture and Systems Change,” co-produced by Art.coop and NPQ. In this series, queer, trans, and BIPOC artists and cultural bearers reflect upon the unique role that culture has played and can play in activating and enacting structural change—and in building a solidarity economy.

“Another term for the systems we practice as a company and have represented through our art is solidarity economy. We at Applied Mechanics didn’t know we were moving and dreaming into solidarity economy until recent connections reflected this back to us.”

“The idea of a solidarity economy resonates with our vision of liberation. Like many artists, our collective members face tensions between our dreams and economic pressures. To pay the bills, we are fiscally sponsored by Headlong Dance Theater, a Philadelphia nonprofit with an aligned mission, and Fractured Atlas, a New York City nonprofit that supports artists nationally. In Practicing Cooperation: Mutual Aid Beyond Capitalism, published last year, Andrew Zitcer of Drexel University documents the tensions between ideals and monetary pressures at Headlong, but emphasizes too the ‘urban possibility of creative democracy’ (203) that is core to Headlong—and to us.”

“Our collective welcomes this opportunity to deepen intention. Our work is never finished. We celebrate that. We are always learning, using our hearts as our compass, our truth as swords. (Thank you, Assata Shakur). To center our value of mutual thriving for all, we must believe that “No one is free until we are all free” (Thank you, Fannie Lou Hamer). Our group’s intention, while remaining flexible and humble, is to keep moving the needle of change towards collective liberation in the imaginations of our audiences. However small that movement may be, its ripples are cosmic; it is enough, and it never stops.”

“This struggle towards the next world is a work of art, one in which it is important to remain brave and vulnerable. At every step on the journey to creating this new world, there is compost—critical to building soil. Every offering—kindness, presence, art, patience—is valuable. There is no such thing as wrong or unfinished.”

“Each mistake—erasure, self-criticism, tension—is an opportunity to grow closer to each other and our highest selves. Every creation is a seed. The process is the soil. The sun and rain are our joy and conflict. They are inextricable from each other and equally indispensable.”

“Artists—and we are all artists—are microorganisms that nurture seeds. Whatever is harvested will be honored, and every hand that was a part of it thanked, including the Earth from which the harvest was born. This is how we find our way, together.”

Read the full article here.

From National Coalition for Arts’ Preparedness: “Following the recent tornadoes, a major disaster declaration for Alabama was declared on January 15. All categories of Public Assistance (PA) have just opened up for 9 AL counties: Autauga, Barbour, Chambers, Conecuh, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Hale, and Tallapoosa. Private non-profit cultural institutions and arts organizations in these counties are now eligible to apply for repair of their facility as well as of any damaged collections materials.”

For Artists:
The Entertainment Community Fund – https://entertainmentcommunity.org/
MusiCares – https://www.musicares.org/
CERF+/The Artists Safety Net – https://cerfplus.org/
NYFA/New York Foundation for the Arts – https://www.nyfa.org/online-resources/emergency-resources/

For Organizations:
Cultural institutions and arts organizations can call the National Heritage Responders hotline: 202.661.8068. The National Heritage Responders, a team of trained conservators and collections care professionals administered by the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation, are available 24/7 to provide phone advice and guidance.
Museums with damage to their collections may be eligible for FAIC funding/assistance for an assessment: https://www.culturalheritage.org/resources/collections-care/cap/emergency-cap.

For Funders:
Funders and service organizations can learn ways to streamline and expedite assistance to artists and organizations through The Essential Guidelines for Arts Responders Organizing in the Aftermath of Disaster – https://www.ncaper.org/post/essential-guidelines-for-arts-responders-organizing-in-the-aftermath-of-disaster.

For Everyone:
For questions about salvaging heirlooms and other objects/artifacts can email the National Heritage Responders at NHRpublichelpline@culturalheritage.org, and HENTF’s (the Heritage Emergency National Task Force) Save Your Family Treasures guidance is available at https://www.fema.gov/assistance/save-family-treasures. Here you can find the downloadable FEMA fact sheets After the Flood: Advice for Salvaging Damaged Family Treasures and Salvaging Water-Damaged Family Valuables and Heirlooms, available in multiple languages.

You and/or your organization may be eligible for FEMA assistance if you are in an area designated under a presidentially-declared disaster. To help demystify federal disaster relief, read An Arts Field Guide to Federal Disaster Relief, available free online in English and Spanish: https://www.ncaper.org/general-8-1.

Preparedness Resources:
If you have not been affected, we encourage you to take some time to begin or update your Readiness Plan for your own organization or practice; resources include www.artsready.org and www.performingartsreadiness.org for organizations, and www.cerfplus.org for artists.

From Good Work Institute: “At the start of a New Year, dedicate some attention to a fresh approach to your working relationships! In this 7-week workshop, we will cultivate our capacity to connect with ourselves and others and practice nonviolent communication skills that can support our working together productively, authentically, and with care, in service of our work towards collective liberation.”

“When we pour ourselves into work we care about, we want to know it matters. We want to know that our collective efforts to bring about needed changes and work toward Just Transition will be fruitful. How disheartening, exhausting, and frustrating it is to see our hard work fall short as conflict slows down the momentum of our work or, worse yet, leads us to step away from collaborative efforts.”

“The legacies of a domination paradigm (capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and scarcity to name a few) have left us without the skills we need in order to collaborate effectively and to find generativity in conflict which, on some scale, is inevitable.”

“Nonviolent Communication (NVC) offers us a toolkit to deepen our own embodied self-connection and build our capacity to relate to ourselves and one another with empathy so that we can show up more fully and authentically to our work in the world. As we begin to unpack the way that domination culture has shaped our very language, we can learn new/old ways of communicating that bring us more deeply into alignment with our values, our purpose, and into connection with one another as we work together to build the world we long for.”

Learn more and register here.

“Jawole Willa Jo Zollar is the founder of the legendary ensemble Urban Bush Women. She is also a winner of the MacArthur Genius Award. I met Jawole at a Creative Change Retreat, an intersection of artists and activists that used to be held at the Sundance Resort, in Provo, Utah. One of my favorite gatherings to facilitate,” said Gibrán Rivera “I was immediately moved by Jawole’s presence, and I could sense how she was tuning into a deeper energy in my facilitation. We started to get to know each other and quickly learned that not only do we share values and aspirations for a more embodied and generative approach to change. But we also share a powerful spiritual alignment.” Listen to the podcast episode here.